Mueller has filed charges and now we know who
I hope the networks run a split screen of Flynn's arrest. On the left him leading the chant of "Lock her up" at the RNC convention. On the right him being marched in handcuffs into an unmarked car by FBI agents.
dave said:
I hope the networks run a split screen of Flynn's arrest. On the left him leading the chant of "Lock her up" at the RNC convention. On the right him being marched in handcuffs into an unmarked car by FBI agents.
it's kind of hilarious to hear CNN try to provide "details" on the indictment, when they know nothing other than an indictment is coming down. I guess you have to fill the airwaves somehow.
Our predator-in-chief has been awfully quiet this weekend. I'm thinking Jared or Donny Jr.
45 is too busy figuring out how quickly he can pardon anyone who gets charged. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a folder full of pre-printed pardon orders ready for him to sign as soon as someone gets named .
OK you political junkies, let’s see your top 3 picks in order of likelihood. I’m going with Manafort, Flynn, Page.
My evil thoughts feature Jr. and Kushner, but I wouldn’t bet on them. Very excited at prospect that Jared could go down, the smug little ****. 666 bldg. and ties of two awful and rich “real estate” titans. Seriously, Trump’s got no business cred. No one to answer to. No board or other entity to check him out. The muthafcukers are out there to see if they can ride this oil slick of an administration, this mass of cowardly, cynical, amoral sihts. How dare they!
Really, Mitch seems like the Sad Sack of the Senate, but if ever there were an empty suit, it’s Ryan. Only real Job he ever had is in DC and is totally ineffective. But he looks fit and energetic. The emptiest of suits. But a nice workout routine. Yes
I think what this shows is these gamblers who participate in his administration didn't think they'd be "riding an oilslick," but actually putting their straws in to suck out some juice from this starving corpse of a nation.
drummerboy said:
it's kind of hilarious to hear CNN try to provide "details" on the indictment, when they know nothing other than an indictment is coming down. I guess you have to fill the airwaves somehow.
CNN has really gone downhill. They don't do hard news/reporting anymore. It's just constant discussion and analysis. I don't need to watch Anderson Cooper with a panel of five "experts" speculate.
I agree that it likely won't be a family member tomorrow. But it would give me such pleasure if it's Jared and/ or Trump Jr. And I think that it is maybe the one and only thing that could hurt Trump- to see his kids get hurt.
yahooyahoo said:
drummerboy said:
it's kind of hilarious to hear CNN try to provide "details" on the indictment, when they know nothing other than an indictment is coming down. I guess you have to fill the airwaves somehow.
CNN has really gone down hill. They don't do hard news/reporting anymore. It's just constant discussion and analysis. I don't need to watch Anderson Cooper with a panel of five "experts."
Very true. Plus everything is breaking news even if not new or not news. They hate Trum, I hate Trump so I watch. But there really is too much time and not enough news.
Whoever it is, the indictment won't be for collusion, because there's no law against collusion.
paulsurovell said:
Whoever it is, the indictment won't be for collusion, because there's no law against collusion.
Most know that, but collusion can be part of something that is criminal, like lying or money laundering.
Which is why this is what people are guessing -
blianderson said:
Manafort.
Charges include conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to launder money.
The indictment contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.
This, on how to interpret Mueller's charges, is worth reading. (A couple of the points will make Paul happy.)
https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-interpret-robert-muellers-new-charges/
shoshannah said:
Manafort, Flynn, Rebekah Mercer
The Mercers would be very satisfying but, alas, not yet.
Good writeup, thanks for sharing. On the point of "collusion" not really being a legal issue, I think this passage from the wired piece is important:
5) Bob Mueller is after federal crimes, not political problems.It’s important to understand that the task before Mueller’s team of FBI agents and prosecutors isn’t to investigate and make public the full truth of the 2016 election. They have a much more narrow task: To determine whether there are definable criminal violations that amount to federal felonies or misdemeanors and that can be proven in a courtroom beyond a reasonable doubt based upon the federal government’s standard rules of evidence and criminal procedure.
Sally Q. Yates—the acting attorney general fired by President Trump for refusing to implement the so-called Muslim ban—has argued since leaving office that Mueller’s standard should not be the nation’s only test of what happened in 2016. There are any number of behaviors and actions that might fall short of a definable, provable felony that we, as a democratic society and a sovereign nation that eschews foreign involvement in our politics, might find troubling behavior in our commander-in-chief and the leader of one branch of government. But it’s not entirely clear right now how the country might see such behavior or act upon it.
With the key passage I want to highlight here being: "There are any number of behaviors and actions that might fall short of a definable, provable felony that we, as a democratic society and a sovereign nation that eschews foreign involvement in our politics, might find troubling behavior in our commander-in-chief and the leader of one branch of government. "
Collusion in a broad sense might not be illegal, but lying to the FBI about it is.
Today, the guilty plea of Trump campaign advisor George Papadopolous for lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia was also unsealed. Looks like it took about 48 hours, so I assume the young man, whose top credential was his Model UN experience, will be doing some singing.
NY Times Story:
WASHINGTON — President Trump is confident that neither his former campaign chairman nor his former national security adviser has damaging information about him to offer prosecutors, a White House lawyer told The New York Times.
“The president has no concerns in terms of any impact, as to what happens to them, on his campaign or on the White House,” the lawyer, Ty Cobb, said in an interview on Thursday for The Times’s podcast “The New Washington.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/28/us/politics/ty-cobb-trump-lawyer-new-washington.html
Is the message, I've got the pardon power. So not to worry. Shut your mouths. You take care of me and I'll take care of you.
"As I laid out, the indictment against Paul Manafort is meant to embarrass him, but still pave the way for him to flip. That’s the carrot, if an indictment stripping the money laundered suits off Manafort’s back can be said to be good news.
The bad news is this guilty plea, for false statements, by campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, signed on October 5, but only unsealed today. That plea makes it clear that 1) the campaign had, as an explicit goal, making friends with Russia 2) a month and a half before the June 9 Trump Tower meeting, Russian handlers dangled the stolen Hillary emails 3) Papadopoulos has cooperated beyond what has been laid out in the guilty plea.
I’m guessing this plea is going to make flipped far more attractive to Paul Manafort. Because Manafort now knows that the government knows that the campaign knew about Hillary’s emails well before that June 9, 2016 meeting."
https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/10/30/a-month-and-a-half-before-the-june-9-meeting-trump-campaign-learned-about-hacked-emails/
OK, now we're getting warmer... 
George Papadopoulos, former policy adviser to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, the Special Counsel's Office announced today.
Why it matters: He's another Trump campaign official wrapped up in Robert Mueller's charges. But unlike Paul Manafort's indictment, the charges against Papadopoulos are explicitly linked to attempts at collusion with Russia.
His involvement: In March 2016, Papadopoulos tried to set up a meeting with Russian leadership and the Trump campaign team. He sent an email to the foreign policy team, according to Washington Post, promising a "meeting with Russian Leadership - Including Putin."
Although some members of the team were skeptical of the proposed meeting — including Paul Manafort, who rejected a May 2016 meeting from Papadopoulos — he tried to set up at least 6 meetings with Russian officials and the Trump team between March and September 2016, per WashPost.
Legal details: Papadopoulos' sentence hearing will be set for a later date, per the Special Counsel's Office. He will face up to six months in prison (though the max for this charge could be 5 years) and $500 to $9,500 in fines, according to the DOJ plea agreement.
axios
I'm starting to feel a tingle up my leg, ala Chris Matthews re BHO...
WASHINGTON — A professor with close ties to the Russian government told an adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in April 2016 that Moscow had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” according to court documents unsealed Monday.
The adviser, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about that conversation. The plea represents the most explicit evidence connecting the Trump campaign to the Russian government’s meddling in last year’s election.
Mr. Papadopoulos repeatedly tried to arrange a meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials, court records show. Attempts to reach Mr. Papadopoulos were not successful.
Mr. Papadopoulos told the F.B.I. in January that the professor was “a nothing.” But Mr. Papadopoulos now acknowledges that he knew the professor had “substantial connections to Russian government officials.”
The United States government has concluded that Russia hacked Democratic email accounts and released thousands of embarrassing emails related to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. The emails began appearing online in the summer of 2016 and the Trump campaign has repeatedly denied any inside knowledge about that.
Mr. Papadopoulos was one of a small group of foreign policy advisers that Mr. Trump announced in March 2016. Another of the advisers, Carter Page, has met with the F.B.I. about his own meetings with Russians.
nyt
BG9 said:
NY Times Story:
WASHINGTON — President Trump is confident that neither his former campaign chairman nor his former national security adviser has damaging information about him to offer prosecutors, a White House lawyer told The New York Times.
“The president has no concerns in terms of any impact, as to what happens to them, on his campaign or on the White House,” the lawyer, Ty Cobb, said in an interview on Thursday for The Times’s podcast “The New Washington.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/28/us/politics/ty-cobb-trump-lawyer-new-washington.html
Is the message, I've got the pardon power. So not to worry. Shut your mouths. You take care of me and I'll take care of you.
When will the NY AG file charges, over which Trump lacks pardon power?
PVW said:
BG9 said:
NY Times Story:
WASHINGTON — President Trump is confident that neither his former campaign chairman nor his former national security adviser has damaging information about him to offer prosecutors, a White House lawyer told The New York Times.
“The president has no concerns in terms of any impact, as to what happens to them, on his campaign or on the White House,” the lawyer, Ty Cobb, said in an interview on Thursday for The Times’s podcast “The New Washington.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/28/us/politics/ty-cobb-trump-lawyer-new-washington.html
Is the message, I've got the pardon power. So not to worry. Shut your mouths. You take care of me and I'll take care of you.
When will the NY AG file charges, over which Trump lacks pardon power?
I forgot about that. Will he or will it just be talk?
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I would bet it's Flynn and Manafort. We will know more soon. JOHN Dean says it's a "very interesting move."